No country for Beauty

SOMETHING remarkable happened this week. Babul Mia of Habiganj—who had raped Beauty Akhter (16) earlier in the year—had her raped again and killed for not withdrawing the rape case pending against him, surprising no one.
28 March 2018, 18:00 PM

Building climate resilient, migrant-friendly cities

A recent report from the World Bank has looked at the potential number of people who will be displaced and become climate migrants due to the adverse impacts of climate change around the world by 2050. The report estimated the number to be around 140 million across Asia and Africa, with 40 million in South Asia.
27 March 2018, 18:00 PM

LDC to DC

During the serene start of a cricket game, two captains are on the field along with officials, as the coin is tossed.
26 March 2018, 18:00 PM

Risks and opportunities of LDC graduation

The prime minister, the government and the people of Bangladesh can be justly proud that the country will now be able to graduate out of the Least Developed Country (LDC) status within the next few years.
20 March 2018, 18:00 PM

LDC GRADUATION: What it means for Bangladesh

On March 16, 2018, for the second time in the history of independent Bangladesh, the country was adorned with a crown for its
19 March 2018, 18:00 PM

How relevant is the existing quota system?

The recent demonstra-tions by students demanding an end to the existing Bangladesh Civil Service quota system in the recruitment process deserve urgent attention of the government. The rationale for the introduction of the quota system had its roots in the policy for recruitment to public service that was adopted in September 1972.
18 March 2018, 18:00 PM

A journey by bus from Dhaka to Nalitabari

Shouldn't people derive delight from travelling? Then why is it such a nightmare for people who use public transport in Bangladesh? My short story of a journey by bus from Dhaka to Nalitabari may give readers a glimpse of why.
17 March 2018, 18:00 PM

History, propaganda or just a movie?

For some time now, I have been resisting the urge to add my voice to the Padmaavat controversy.
17 March 2018, 18:00 PM

Tillerson gone, who's next?

President Donald Trump's White House team seems to be in complete disarray. The way West Wing staffers have been fired or have resigned gives the impression that Trump's house has imploded.
15 March 2018, 18:00 PM

The expanding phenomenon of religious and nationalist extremism

The attack on Dr Zafar Iqbal on March 3, only proves that religiously motivated extremism of the violent type, whether manifested in individual or group actions, continues to find its practitioners in society.
14 March 2018, 18:00 PM

Tapping the potential of our youth

Many oil-rich countries like Norway, United Arab Emirates and Brunei have put billions of US dollars into Sovereign Wealth Funds through which they invest in interest-bearing assets around the world, either enhancing the amount in the fund, or for subsidising costs of selected services for their own citizens.
13 March 2018, 18:00 PM

Life: Real, Sub or Hyper?

Your realities are being separated today. In social media, you have the option of being offered in the newsfeed over public news. What you read and what you write are on two different planes. You read what is being fed and you write about who you are. The focus has shifted from the public to you. You can now broadcast your own self. You can write your own opinion editorial, and also choose your readers.
13 March 2018, 18:00 PM

What Xi Jinping's 'indefinite term' means for China

Yesterday, China's parliament, in a historic move, abolished presidential term limits enabling President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely.
11 March 2018, 18:00 PM

Celebrating a Braveheart

A tribute to artist and freedom fighter Ferdousi Priyabhashini on a day we celebrate women could not be more befitting except for the fact that it should have been a tribute to a living legend not a eulogy for a hero who is no more. She passed away on March 6. When one looks at the life of this incredibly brave and beautiful woman one cannot help but feel that we as a nation have failed miserably to pay our dues to this freedom fighter.
7 March 2018, 18:00 PM

Prioritising life's choices

Recently, I made an unusual journey—a journey of love to pick up old relationships and energise them.
3 March 2018, 18:00 PM

Central bank's cry for help

As a Bengali saying goes, “Don't dig a canal to let the crocodile enter.” Never has this been more fitting than now for Bangladesh Bank (BB) that is voluntarily inviting the interference of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) into all banking affairs, severely damaging the image of a fairly independent central bank.
3 March 2018, 18:00 PM

Farewell to arms

This could be the start of a gory serial. In response to 17 hale and hearty lives lost, and 15 serious injuries from a white shooter (predictably mentally ill) at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, the best the country's beleaguered president could do after seven days was to suggest arming school lunch staff with concealed weapons, and this was during his meeting with angry and emotional friends and relatives of
2 March 2018, 18:00 PM

America's Got Talent

The students, teachers and staff of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School return to campus in Parkland, Florida. But things will never be the same. After Marjory, just like after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Santana, San Bernardino, Las Vegas…, the debate on gun control is rekindled and is surely about to die an early death (yes, a sad pun), thanks to the gun-toting lobby.
1 March 2018, 18:00 PM

#Womenwill

Being a woman meant landing in Tokyo at 6:30 in the morning, catching up with a dear friend over a coffee in her car while being picked up from the airport, ending up at the Hotel at 9:00, only to run straight to the restroom to change and hurry out with luggage, not even having time to check in, and ultimately carrying the same bag to the conference, without being able to leave it with the concierge in the absence of a room number.
28 February 2018, 18:00 PM

Coping with the cops

Recent events relating to the serious wrongdoings of law enforcers may prompt the wary public to conclude that the misdeeds and gross dereliction of duties by our policemen have become a pathetic, recurrent reality and that nothing much can be done to change the situation.
26 February 2018, 18:00 PM